May 29, 2013

Weekly Muppet Wednesdays: Andy and Randy Pig

Today's post was written by Michael Wermuth, Jr. Special thanks to our good friend Chris Stulz for doing Photoshop work for our new Weekly Muppet Wednesdays logo!ANDY AND RANDY PIG

Performed by...
Steve Whitmire (Andy Pig)
Dave Goelz (Randy Pig)

First appearance...Muppet Classic Theater (1994)

Most recent appearance...The Muppets Kitchen with Cat Cora (2010)

Best known role...
Miss Piggy's dim-witted nephews

Memorable quote...
"This job's too hard!"

WHO ARE ANDY AND RANDY PIG?Andy and Randy Pig are two of the dumbest Muppet characters ever. They first appeared in 1994 in Muppet Classic Theater, playing two of the titular "Three Little Pigs" with Miss Piggy as their sister, Sandy Pig. In this performance of the classic story, Papa Pig sends his three offspring's into the woods to build houses of their own, assuring Andy and Randy that they are "strong smart boys who can take care of [themselves]," all oblivious to the fact that Sandy is the most capable of taking care of herself. She ends up having to take care of Andy and Randy after the wolf blows down their house.

It was first established on Muppets Tonight that Andy and Randy are Miss Piggy's nephews. In the first episode, Miss Piggy, who had left the Muppets for a career in infomercials, agrees to be the first guest star on the condition that Clifford give Andy and Randy a job on the show. Clifford is quick to hire them, but soon learns they are so dumb they don't even know which one's which (for the record, Andy is the one with the wider snout and the blue shirt with white lines, Randy is the one with the rounder face and red and white shirt). In fact, they are so stupid that when asked the simplest of questions, they reply with "this job's too hard!"

Andy and Randy got to appear in front of the camera frequently. They played the regular roles of Donnie and Art C. Shell in the recurring segment "Bay of Pigs Watch," and Sam the Eagle reluctantly made them guests in every installment of his discussion series "The Eagle's Nest." When Heather Locklear was the guest star, they wrote a sketch for her, but admitted that they can't read and based the sketch on "one of those things that's hard on the outside but soft on the inside" (not a book, but a pizza).

When John Goodman was the guest star, he made the mistake of saving their lives when they almost electrocuted themselves. On TV, you can't save somebody's life without them volunteering to be your slave, and they messed up their attempts at being John Goodman's slaves, especially annoying him as he had hoped he could relax during his guest spot. By the end of the episode, they are not only STILL John's slaves, but they also get jobs on the set of Roseanne.

After Muppets Tonight was cancelled they did not continue as main characters, although they have occasionally had featured roles since. In the video game Muppet Party Cruise, they host the mini-game "Pig Sty Party," and are among the few non-playable characters to participate in the game . They occasionally popped up for cameos in The Muppet Show Comic Book, and starred in one issue of the "Family Reunion" story arc, where they visit their Aunt Piggy at the theater. Finally, in 2010, Andy and Randy appeared in an episode of The Muppets Kitchen with Cat Cora, where Angelo invited them to a sleep over after misunderstanding what pigs in a blanket is.

WHY DO THE MUPPETS NEED ANDY AND RANDY PIG?
Well, Andy and Randy may be among the dumbest, most annoying characters of all time, but... Uh, well, let's put it this way. Even though many fans hate them... Uh, they serve a great purpose, and that purpose is... Uh... Uh... THIS JOB'S TOO HARD!!

It would have been so much easier explaining why the Muppets need The Talking Houses or Headless Bill...